Photo: Woodworking
CKCA's new President Jim Lawrence, right, thanks outgoing President Jake Wolters.
Jim Lawrence of Avondale Kitchens, Woodstock, N.B. took over as the Canadian Kitchen Cabinet Association’s new president during its National Forum held in Las Vegas, Nevada on Feb. 5-7.
A long-time CKCA member, Lawrence says he is looking forward to working hard and building the organization into “a truly national group.” He wants to increase membership and implementation of the CKCA Certification. Lawrence also took the opportunity to thank outgoing president Jake Wolters for all his hard work, dedication and for agreeing to serve for an additional year in 2013.
“I really hope we can boost our membership across the country and I would like anyone, even if they aren’t members, to come out to our regional meetings and see what we are all about and what we have to offer,” Lawrence says.
He adds CKCA has an open door policy and he encourages everyone to take advantage of that and attend at least one of their meetings.
“It’s a story that has been told by many members at different times, but I want to repeat it again, it actually pays to be a CKCA member,” Lawrence says.
“Every member has benefitted from talking to and learning from their peers at these meetings and there are countless examples where a brief conversation with another member has brought real, actionable advice that resulted in thousands and thousands of dollars in real-world savings.
“That’s the great thing about our organization,” he says, “we are all here to learn from each other, to socialize and have fun, and everyone of us also gets some real financial benefits from these events.”
Lawrence has always enjoyed the marketing aspects of business and says he wants to put that to good use in spreading the word about the CKCA.
“Increasing our membership has been challenging in the past,” he says, but adds that with the new management team now fully up to speed he believes it is possible to double the number of manufacturing members to about 160 over the next couple of years.
“Getting people to sign up is a long-term process. It doesn’t happen overnight, but I believe we have a great team in place now, our board of directors and our management group, to make that happen.
“I started in the CKCA because I got a phone call from a member inviting me. “That was it, that’s all it took and our members agreed at our recent round table discussions that we will pursue that kind of personal approach to reach out to prospective new members. If every member commits to making some phone calls to invite other manufacturers to check us out, I think that will go a long way towards spreading the word about this great association,” he says.
“I am concerned that too many cabinet shops are really missing out on these benefits. By joining or attending the CKCA meeting, they have a really good opportunity to get out of the shop or office and reflect on what it’s all about and get a feel for what the rest of the world is up to in our industry.”
Lawrence also praised the top-quality shop tours that are part of every CKCA event and usually the highlight of their meetings.
“For most members, this is where seeing ideas, the latest technology and the ability to talk to other factory owners that attend the CKCA, can more than make their money back,” Lawrence says. “Most members will agree that by joining the CKCA, they can easily recoup the modest membership costs tenfold.”
Certified
And there are more ways members benefit.
The CKCA has recently introduced a new benchmark for the Canadian kitchen and vanity cabinet industry and developed a home-grown solution to the problem of differentiating the proven and guaranteed quality of Canadian-made cabinets from import products.
Until now, there has been no program in place to allow cabinet manufacturers to point out the difference between quality that is assured and that, which is not.
Lawrence says the new construction and material-testing standard for kitchen cabinets and vanities is available to all active CKCA members in Canada and can give them a real edge when it comes to competing with inferior imports.
“Through this program, CKCA members can really set themselves apart from the rest, we can build public trust and create a branding for officially certified cabinets. It’s a great tool to market your products and increase sales,” he says.
Lawrence is the CKCA’s second successive president from a smaller kitchen manufacturer and he hopes other small and mid-size shops will take notice and be inspired.
And under his tenure, starting this year, CKCA is also increasing the number of regional meetings to three to cover not only central Canada, but both coasts as well.
“We are making this change to advance our organization into a truly national, Canada-wide association,” Lawrence says.
And in a repeat of this year’s event, next year’s National Forum will once again be held in Las Vegas, Nevada to tie in with KBIS & IBS.
Lawrence is hopeful that combination of strong events will entice more members and prospective members to come out for the Forum and take advantage of the big shows at the same time.
“We hope that tying these events together will be beneficial and profitable for participants,” Lawrence says.
The 2014 regional meetings will be held May 12-14, in Kelowna, B.C.; June 9-10 in Moncton, N.B., and Sept. 9-10, in London, Ont., and Lawrence says he welcomes anyone to come out to the CKCA meeting in their area and see what the organization is all about.
For more information check out www.ckca.com or contact Lawrence directly at jim@avondalekitchens.com or call him at 506.328.5016
